SouthernComfort

Semantics?? If the finish is different and now seemingly without fault as described above, the manufacturing is modified to achieve this in my book. Doesn't matter, the point is, earlier versions are clearly defective and therefore unacceptable.

Just my 2 cents worth: Since they have obviously seen fit to 'modify' the design/finish from '22 on, it virtually suggests Skoda's admission that the earlier ones were substandard. For the sheer principal of it if nothing else, it would be worth taking it further imho. As for the dealer / Skoda Aus buck passing, it's classic avoidance behaviour, surely hoping the hapless customer eventually gives up. I had a similar experience with another brand and their dealerships, a not uncommon industry tactic methinks!

The warranty in Aus starts from date of first registration.

No mate, leave it alone. Just have it serviced per the schedule, absolutely avoid e10 (in any car), use 95 or preferably 98 if you can afford it.

Whatever the explanation, I'm actually happy with the cable I have, as I've previously posted. Even if I had decided to go for one of these, I have no other way of procuring it, so I guess I've saved a few bucks! Happy days.

I doubt it. Whenever delivery to our region isn't applicable, which sometimes occurs from foreign Amazon regions, the message is always specific in that context i.e. it wouldn't say the item is "out of stock", or "we don't know if or when the item will be available", it would simply say "delivery unavailable to your region". This particular situation is very odd.

Strange indeed, no idea what's going on. I've clicked on your link each time I've looked. For some bizarre reason I must be getting a different page, even though it's taken me to Amazon UK as it should. Just for your interest, here's a screenshot of what I'm seeing:

It's still out of stock!! To quote Amazon: "we don't know when or if this item will be back in stock". Searched exhaustively and can't find this exact cable anywhere.

Indeed. It's a big issue when it's a gamble on finding a charging point even if you were prepared to break your journey to use one. My ICE will get me from Melbourne to Sydney (700km) on less than a tank. An EV would barely get me half way with the prospect of no charge point wherever it runs flat, and that's on an interstate highway not a country lane.

I realise this won't help the OP any, but I do empathise and I don't think the lack of support is limited to Skoda. I wouldn't touch an EV of any flavour with a proverbial barge pole. At the very least, not until there's substantially improved Evehicle technology, reliability and support infrastructure and that's many years away in this country. Here we have our Federal and State Govt's all hell bent on flogging the attributes (?) of EV's as part of their climate change/emissions reduction agenda, yet in practice the things are all but useless outside of the major cities. In fact the EV infrastructure in our cities is still sadly lacking. As for venturing into the real wilderness, or even just on very long interstate drives, forget it. Tesla's with flat batteries abandoned on rural highways are not unheard of, you have to wonder what the owners were thinking or expecting....

I like this. I thought mine was pretty neat but this is better! I had a look at the Amazon page but it appears to be out of stock at the moment. I'll get one if it becomes available again. The separate elbow connector I needed with mine (on the Garmin Mini 2) has always niggled me a bit, makes it look slightly clumsy.

My petrol definitely doesn't do it. Sounds like a battery/electric drive issue.

Correct. 1st gear never selected when driving.

Same engine as my Octavia, 1.4TSI. The Golf had a 7sp dry clutch, AFAIK the wet clutch only went into the higher torque models. The wet clutch was reputed to be a smoother unit, somewhat academic though. I am aware of the attributes of S, I alternated between D & S frequently. Frankly it made little if any difference to the situation we're talking about here.

FWIW I've previously commented about my experience with DSG (Mk7 Golf). Broadly speaking it often seemed confused about which gear it needed to be in. Hilly country exacerbated the situation somewhat, the box would hunt up and down to the point of annoyance to trying to work itself out. It's over-revving in too low a gear was common. There are odd occasions when my 8sp TC trans in the Octavia does a similar thing, but rarely. Overall I find the 8sp a smoother gearbox.

Well intentioned as our comments were from non-UK markets, they were based on generalities concerning the foibles experienced in early models. You already know what you have to do to about that. Determining spec differences between MkIV model years in UK delivered vehicles may well be different to those elsewhere, depending on the customising options made available in the UK. Best wishes with your project.

I agree with CKO, if possible go as late as you can afford. Early ('20-'21) MkIV's did suffer a few problems, mostly software related which were largely sorted out from MY22. I think the specs are pretty much unchanged otherwise, barring the odd minor tweak such as your virt. cockpit screen. Having said that, if any early problems have been rectified on the used car you're looking at, you should be fine - check the car's service/maintenance records for updates.

A very useful thread! Thanks to the OP for raising it and to those who have demystified the process, now I'm inspired to set mine up.

I too was assuming 'arms' meant 'blades'. Why would wiper arms wear out? Never seen it happen.

I find UV is the biggest killer of rubber blades, turning them brittle. Averagely they should last longer than 2 years though, does your car live in the open most of the time, or do you do high mileage? Of course, wiper blades are consumables like tyres and brake pads, so not under the standard warranty. It's a favourite revenue spinner for dealers, they'll always tell you your wiper blades need replacing - $$$! I haven't got to that stage with mine yet but when they genuinely need replacing I'd normally buy new the blade cassettes and fit them myself. I haven't priced them but I wouldn't pay a dealer to do it.

I'm using a 64gb stick without partitioning and it works fine, although I have no more than about 15gb of music on it currently. Rather than using albums I've set up my own self-titled compilation folders to hold tracks I've taken off CD's or from my iTunes library, selected mostly by genre so it mixes things up a bit. I don't generally stick to albums, after two or three songs by one artist I like a change - with a few exceptions. Folders are saved to the USB root and appear on the screen exactly in the order I've titled them. I did the same in my previous cars with HD and/or SD card slot. In terms of hardware, USB is a bit of a backward step imo, but works just the same. I find VC too fickle, so never use it.

Yes, 1.4TSI 8sp. Without wishing to offend DSG owners, and having had the 7cog DSG in my previous Golf, I find the 8sp TC just a nicer box to live with. It seems smoother and more responsive, and in hilly country it comes into its own by better knowing which gear to be in. Just my view. RS has the DSG of course, as did the now discontinued (from '24) Limited Edition (AFAIK). All other Octavia variants have the 8sp, all petrol, no electric or phev.

I haven't driven manual for about that long either! The non RS models here (like mine) have the 8sp auto torque converter trans, so they're all automatic, but not all are DSG.

It certainly looks like it. The lack of detail in the Aust Govt recall notice created the initial confusion. Had it identified the affected vehicles as DSG variants, it would have immediately narrowed the field. Instead it simply referred to '20-24 Octavia and Superb', even stating Variant Applicability as 'All variants within this model'. That triggered a painstaking trawl through the randomly organised list of VIN's before learning that it doesn't apply to non-DSG's.

I've been reading more in the past day or so and I think your assumptions based on the Formentor and Leon are fair. The key thing is to establish whether or not your VIN is listed, mine isn't so unless Skoda AU were to contact me that's the end of it.